


Sobeck Ranch

by podgle



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Gay!Elisabet, Her mom's sweary too, Sweary!Elisabet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/podgle/pseuds/podgle
Summary: After quitting FAS, Elisabet travels home to the family ranch, to regroup and decide on her next steps.A series of three conversations between Elisabet and her mom, exploring their relationship and Lis' home life.





	1. Conversation one

**Author's Note:**

> After writing a lot of short insights into Elisabet's life, I wanted to do something a little longer to explore Lis' background and see what she was like before the events of Zero Dawn. I used this as an opportunity to show a younger, less confident Lis and how she might tackle life's problems.

Elisabet watched the landscape slide by, forehead resting on the autocar window. Her headache had settled down to a background thrum, but she still had that thick head, tired eyes-feeling from crying earlier. At least she had made it back to her office, leaving Ted with the impression that she was just thunderously angry, rather than thunderously angry and totally panicked about quitting. Nine years with FAS, and this is how it ended. 

Before she could start on another catastrophising spiral, Elisabet concentrated on the horizon. Seeing the ranch's windmill always transported Lis back to childhood, sat in the front of her mom's beat up blue Ford F150 as they came back from a morning at the cattle auction, farmer's market, or if it was a quiet weekend, the Nevada State Museum. 

Elisabet had dragged her mother through the geology exhibit enough times that the staff knew them both by name. Not once did Miriam complain that Lis had memorised all her favourite plaques, and barely needed to read them. After they investigated the gift shop for new books that Elisabet hadn't read, they went down the street for a marshmallow-laden hot chocolate for Lis, and a potent triple shot flat white for her mom. 

She squinted her eyes. The Sobeck Ranch windmill came into view, and Elisabet felt some tension leave her shoulders. It was the first time she'd relaxed even slightly since Ted had emailed senior management to brief them on the forthcoming 'peacekeeper' contract three days ago. She'd already known what she needed to do the second the message landed in her inbox, but she still called Samina, and then her mom to talk out all her thoughts and arguments and get them straight in her head. Miriam's pep talk had ended with the offer of Lis' old room for as long as she needed it, and although she'd turned it down at the time, the reality of quitting the largest company in the world was starting to sink in. Elisabet needed headspace, and a lot of it. 

The autocar turned up the long, dirt driveway. Sobeck Ranch had grown and changed over the years, acquiring patches of land, new buildings and barns until it had settled at its current size of around 1,000 acres. The ranch had been in the family for a long time, courtesy of a lucky hand of cards sometime in the 1890s. Elisabet's grandmother had insisted on keeping her poker, blackjack, and bridge skills sharp throughout her life, because 'you never know when someone might want a rematch'. The ranch was Elisabet's first home, and she assumed it would be her last. She'd spend her retirement looking after the place. 

The car pulled up and Elisabet stepped out, grabbing her holdall from the backseat. She waited for the taxi to leave, then took a deep breath. Grass....and cow shit. Definitely home. She climbed the porch steps and opened the ever-unlocked front door, kept that way in case the neighbours needed to drop by and borrow something. Lis doubted that there was even a key for it any more. They were remote enough that it was unlikely any potential criminal would even make the effort, and the display case of antique shotguns in the hallway were a suitably intimidating security measure. 

“Mom?” Elisabet called, not expecting an answer in the middle of the day. 

“She's not here, Lis,” came the reply from the kitchen. Elisabet dropped her bag and followed the voice. 

“Hey, Alex,” she said. 

“Long time no see.” 

Alex had worked on the ranch for the last eight or nine years, after being unceremoniously kicked out of her home by cultishly religious parents who had objected to some minor teenage experimentation. Miriam had picked up a cold and hungry Alex on her way back from running errands, and promised the girl room, board, and lifts to school in return for help over calving season. She had turned out to be a natural rancher, and whilst Alex had moved out of the spare bedroom and into her own place, she was now Miriam's second in command. 

“It's been a bit hectic the last few months, glad to be here now,” Elisabet said, sitting down at the kitchen table where Alex was doing paperwork. 

“Still saving the world?” Alex asked with a smile. 

“I wouldn't say that, it's more like reversing the damage done by-” 

“So that's a yes. Good for you, Lis.” 

Elisabet rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “How are you?” 

Alex shrugged. “Same as always. Not much changes around here, you know that.” 

“Certainly do.” 

“She'll be pleased to see you.” 

For the first time since she spotted home, Elisabet felt the little dark stormclouds of worry again. “Hope so.” 

Alex watched her carefully. “You'd never disappoint her.” 

Lis nodded. “Thanks, Alex.” She stood. “Good to see you again.” 

“You too. She's out fixing fences over the east side.” 

Elisabet left the house, and made her way across the yard to the stable. She could technically contact Miriam by Focus, but had stowed her own in an inside pocket of her bag. The temptation to log in and check her inbox was too strong, and she really didn't want to deal with the chaos that would ensue once word got out about her resignation. That was a problem for Future Elisabet. Present Elisabet just wanted to get rid of her knot of anxiety. 

She approached Baymax, her bay stallion, with a handful of sugar cubes. It had been so long since she'd been home that he regarded her with some suspicion, but sweet treats brought him around. He waited patiently as Elisabet saddled him up. Before she left the stable, she took one of her mom's spare cowboy hats from the hook inside the door. Lis had lathered herself in suncream before she'd even left her apartment in Salt Lake City; it didn't take make summers as a redhead in Nevada to learn the value of as much protection as possible. 

She climbed semi-gracefully onto Baymax and settled into the saddle. Her mom had taught her to ride when she was barely six, so really this was just like riding a bike...a 1.5 meter tall bike made of pure muscle. She decided on a gentle trot to get her rhythm back, and set off to find her mom. 

As she passed by the fields, Elisabet noted the landmarks of her childhood: the stump of the tree she had burned down, the little brick wall where her mom had taught her to shoot glass bottles, the hayloft she'd fallen off and cracked her arm clean in two. For two weeks, and two weeks only, the resulting cast made Elisabet interesting and approachable enough for her classmates to actually talk to her. Once the novelty wore off, so had the new 'friendships'. 

She frowned and kicked her heels against Baymax's side, eager to get away from the past. 

The sound of sledgehammer on wood, and the occasional curse, guided Elisabet toward her mom's location. Miriam, in her ever-present plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy hat, was driving new fenceposts into the ground, with her back to Elisabet's approach. Three dogs were sleepy on the dusty path nearby. 

“Coyotes get in again?” Elisabet called. 

Miriam dropped the sledgehammer on the ground without caring where it fell, turned and spread her brawny arms. “C'mere and give me a hug, kiddo.” 

Lis made it down from Baymax without catching her foot in a stirrup. “Hey mom,” she said, realising at that moment exactly how much she needed one of these hugs. Miriam held her for a long moment; she knew exactly why her daughter was here. 

Eventually, she said “let me look at you.” Elisabet stepped back and let herself be surveyed, knowing nothing escaped her mother's gaze. “I'm so sorry it didn't work out, sweets.” 

Lis shrugged. “Wasn't meant to be, I guess.” 

“Want to swing a very large hammer at some things?” 

“I really, really do.” 

“Atta girl.” 

Elisabet picked up the sledgehammer whilst Miriam held up a new fencepost. 

“Don't hit my fingers like you did before,” her mom said with a mischievous grin. 

“That was one time,” Elisabet rolled her eyes. 

“This nail hasn't been the same since,” Miriam waved her left ring finger. 

“That's weird, I developed a spasm in my hand around the same time,” Lis said, giving her mom the middle finger. 

Miriam burst into hearty laughter. “Touché. Alright, let's get this done before the sun goes down.” 

They worked in silence for a while, Elisabet banging in the posts as Miriam supervised, offering advice and the occasional guiding hand. Concentrating on her aim and working up a sweat was taking her mind off everything. There was a reason she came back home whenever she had a particularly thorny problem to sort out. She paused for a moment and lent on the handle of the hammer, then nodded over at the sleeping dogs. 

“You've acquired some new pets.” 

Miriam scratched her chin. “You know how it is. People buy them, realise they can't keep them, then dump them in the fields. And I'm too much of a sucker to take them to the pound. There's not a single no-kill shelter within 20 miles of here.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Mm hm. No-one can afford to keep pets any more, everyone's losing their jobs to those damn Sterling-Malkeet robots. Unemployment's crazy high in Carson City.” 

“I read about that. All the healthcare and government jobs went.” 

“All gone. I put up a sign for summer help, ended up with 300 people camping outside the front door for a week. Hired as many as I could, but there's a limit.” 

“That's awful,” Lis said, resuming her hammering. 

“Anyway. The black lab is Pongo, greyhound's called Dozer, and the other one is Heinz. No clue what he is at all, aside from very licky.” 

“Are they good guard dogs?” 

“Do they look like they are?” 

Elisabet paused and looked over. Dozer was asleep with his legs straight up in the air. “Not really, no.” 

They made a start on unrolling wire and fixing it to the posts. With the lull in noise, conversation turned to the last few days. 

“So he didn't buy any of your arguments?” Miriam asked. 

“Barely even considered them,” Elisabet growled. 

“What happened?” 

“He still hasn't realised that I can see what percentage of the files he reads. He literally looked at the title page of the report I put together.” 

“Ah.” 

“It doesn't make sense. Why take a company with no military history and shove it in that direction? We were doing good in the world. We have actual proof of that. The warfare shit...he doesn't know anything about it.” 

“When has not knowing the details ever stopped your boss?” 

Elisabet nodded. “I put it all together in one damn file for him. What do I have to do? Colour it in with crayons and name it 'Important Shit That Ted Needs to Read'? I mean, come on. Your Chief Scientist says 'uh, maybe this is a bad idea', so naturally your response would be to completely ignore her.” Lis kicked a stone, and watched it skitter down the path. She released a breath she didn't realise she was holding, then looked up at her mom, who was surveying her with an inscrutable expression. 

“There's more going on than signing the peacekeeper contract,” Miriam said, evenly. 

“Like my boss being an idiot?” 

“No, although that's in the mix because we can't argue with objective fact. I'm thinking more along the lines of you getting your feelings hurt.” 

“Go on.” 

Miriam smiled. “Because of your ego.” 

Elisabet raised an eyebrow and put her hands of her hips. “Because of my what now?” 

“It's not a bad thing, sweets. You wouldn't have made it as far as your have without a healthy dose of self-confidence, and, yes, ego.” 

Lis sputtered with indignation. 

Miriam waved a hand at her. “If you didn't have it, you'd still be working on this ranch with me, creating the most efficient, effective farm machinery that no-one would ever see. But you need to test yourself out there in the world, which is what got you to Chief Scientist only a year after you could legally drink.” 

“Fair point.” 

“How long has it been since someone said no to you?” 

Elisabet thought for a moment. “I wasn't allowed to take the 30 binders of research I did on polyphasic entangled waveforms because they're 'company property' according to FAS security.” 

Miriam laughed. “I mean a work colleague or boss. How long?” 

“I don't know...probably...eight years ago? Oh,” Elisabet said, realisation setting in. 

“Mm hm,” Miriam hummed, leaning on a fencepost. 

Elisabet stapled some wire in silence, with slightly more gusto than was necessary. Eventually, she grumbled, “you're right. I'm used to Ted agreeing with me. I'm not flavour of the month any more. I'm still right about the contract being a bad idea.” 

“Of that I have no doubt whatsoever, kiddo.” 

Lis sat heavily on the ground, staple gun still in hand. “What the fuck do I do now? I just quit my job with no plan whatsoever.” 

Miriam knelt next to her. “You've got the world at your feet, sweets. What do you want to do?” 

Elisabet rubbed her forehead. “I should go back to FAS and take back my resignation.” 

“Is that what you really want, or is that what you anxiety's telling you to do?” Miriam asked, gently.

Lis was silent for a moment. “The latter.” 

Miriam brushed a strand of hair out of Elisabet's eyes. “You don't have to decide your next step immediately. Take some time. Just promise me you won't go back to FAS? It'll make you so unhappy.” 

Elisabet nodded. Miriam pulled her into a hug. When they separated, she said, “maybe I could stay here, help you out, fix up the-” 

Her mom held up a hand. “Stay as long as you want, I absolutely adore having you around. You know that.” Elisabet smiled. “I say this with love, but you will be bored out of your fucking mind within three months. You're destined for bigger things than this ranch, sweets.” 

Elisabet opened her mouth to protest. 

“It's okay, I'm not offended by it. I knew it since the day you burned down the tree. You've got so much more to achieve, and it's definitely not improving my tractor or changing the voice on my satnav. Which, by the way, I still cannot fix.” 

Lis nodded, eyes watery. 

Miriam looked thoughtful. “Of course, you'll inherit this whole place when I kick it. Then it's your damn problem.” 

Elisabet laughed, despite herself. 

“Actually, you should probably know that your great great great great great grandfather is buried around here somewhere.” 

“Um, what?” 

“Yeah, he basically had another family in Reno, his wife found out, and solved the problem with a shotgun. So the rumour goes, anyway. And thus, a long line of independent Sobeck women was born.” 

“Great,” Elisabet said, looking around at the ground for shallow graves. “Wait, the shotgun that you use...” 

“I bought it new a few years ago.” 

“Phew.” 

“The grandpa-murdering shotgun is probably in that cabinet in the hallway, come to think of it.” 

“That is...yeah. Okay.” 

Miriam stood up and nudged Elisabet's foot with her own. “C'mon, we really do need to finish this before nightfall.” 

Elisabet took her mom's pro-offered hand and stood up, still anxious but feeling like she was on the right path.


	2. Conversation 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot more dialogue heavy than the last, let me know if you have a preference between the two styles! 
> 
> I'm having a lot of fun writing Elisabet and her mom, their endless sass and boundless love is a fun combination.

Miriam poked her daughter in the side. “Don't fall asleep.”   
  
Elisabet, tousle-haired, puffy-eyed, and grumpy as fuck in the passenger seat, kept her eyes closed and made a grunting noise.   
  
“Didn't catch that, captain eloquent.”   
  
Lis cracked one eye open. “I _said_ that it's the middle of the night-”   
  
“It's four AM.”   
  
“-like I said, the middle of the night, and everyone sensible is still in bed. Except me. I am sensible and yet I am being dragged out to a junk sale-”

“-estate sale.”   
  
“-that really could have started at 2PM with no great loss to anyone.” Lis closed her eye again.   
  
“You know, you were much better at getting up as a kid,” Miriam chuckled.   
  
“Yeah, well that's because I was brainwashed into thinking it was a good idea by some crazy lady.”   
  
“Tell you what, I'll take us to the diner afterwards and buy you breakfast. Help ease you into the day.”   
  
Elisabet grunted again.   
  
“I'll throw in an extra side of home fries.”   
  
Elisabet looked over at her mom. “Alright, sold. I will keep my eyes mostly open throughout the entire thing. What is it we're looking for?”   
  
“I told you earlier.”   
  
“You were sitting on my bed and I was still asleep.”   
  
“I distinctly remember you telling me that I was, quote unquote, the actual worst, so I'm pretty sure you were awake.”   
  
“You're pedantic in the middle of the night.”   
  
Miriam laughed. “We're looking for a John Deere AB485 Air Boom. I want a replacement spreader nozzle, but all the ones online look like they've been run over several times and then dragged behind a car. I'm hoping an offline sale will be more fruitful.”   
  
“I could probably autoCAD a replacement and 3D print it,” Elisabet said, thoughtfully.   
  
“Yeah?”   
  
“Probably make some improvements, too.”   
  
“If we have no luck today, I'll take you up on that.”   
  
“You know, if you'd mentioned it at a sensible time last night, we could have avoided this whole 4AM situation.”   
  
“And miss out on this quality mother-daughter time? Hell no.”   
  
Elisabet sighed. “It'll be memorable, that's for sure. Where are we going?”   
  
“Out near Stagecoach. Here's the zip code,” Miram handed over a piece of paper. “GPS is in the glove compartment.”   
  
Elisabet examined the battered console, held together in places with liberal amounts of duct tape. “Vintage,” she commented.   
  
“Thank you,” Miriam beamed.   
  
Lis plugged it in and set the coordinates. It gave the first direction in The Terminator's voice.   
  
“I cannot for the life of me figure out how to fix it. Stop laughing,” Miriam elbowed her daughter, who was in fits, in the side. “I'm changing my mind on the home fries.”   
  
Elisabet wiped her eyes. “Alright, alright. Anything but the home fries. I'll sort it out on the way home.”   
  
“Three weeks ago I was taking Mrs Williams to her bridge club, and she's old enough to remember the original film. Scared the shit out of her.”   
  
“I'll take the blame for that one.”   
  
“Oh, you bet your ass I dropped you in it.”   
  
Elisabet started to get the giggles again.   
  
“Pain in the ass,” Miriam said with a grin.   
  
\--------  
  
Three hours later, Miriam pulled her truck into the Star diner car park. As they climbed out of the cab and walked to the front door, Elisabet was chatting enthusiastically about the heavy machinery they'd been inspecting at the estate sale.   
  
Miriam smiled. “So you might say that the early start was worth it?”   
  
Lis put her arm around her mom's shoulders. “You were right. But don't think you're getting out of those home fries you promised.”   
  
“Thought you were sleepy enough to forget that one.”   
  
The Star Diner was the Sobecks 'local' diner, if a thirty minute drive counted as local. It had opened some time in the early noughties, and had been run by the same family ever since. The manager, Celeste, had a preternatural ability to remember names and faces and life histories, which had skipped Elisabet's mind until-   
  
“Elisabet Sobeck, as I live and breathe! Where have you been?” Celeste cried. A number of customers looked in their direction, and Lis felt her face go red.   
  
Miriam stepped in, a reassuring hand on Elisabet's back. “I'm afraid I've been keeping her to myself, Celeste. Is the usual spot free?”   
  
“Of course, of course. Come this way,” the manager said. “What are you working on at the moment, Elisabet? We were all so proud when we saw you on the news a few months ago. I said to Norm, I said 'Markleeville's own! That's our girl!' It's really something to see you, it really is.”   
  
Elisabet slid into the booth. “I, er, just finished a project, and I'm deciding what to do next.”   
  
“You get to choose? What a luxury! What do-”   
  
“-c'mon Celeste,” Miriam said good-naturedly. “The girl's on holiday, don't make her talk about work.”   
  
“You're right, you're right.” Celeste nudged Lis with her notepad. “Any boyfriends on the horizon?”   
  
Miriam hid her grin behind a menu. Elisabet hitched a polite smile onto her face. “No, no boyfriend.”   
  
“That's a shame, lovely girl like you. It'll happen, don't you worry. Especially when you least expect it. Happened to our niece Audra, nothing for ten years and then bang, goes part time and meets the love of her life through an app. Married last year, wonderful ceremony, she looked so beautiful. I do run on...enough about us-what can we get you ladies to eat?”   
  
“I'll take the Star breakfast with pancakes, two eggs over easy and an extra side of home fries,” Elisabet said, quickly.   
  
“The same for me, without the home fries,” Miriam smiled.   
  
“Hungry today!” Celeste commented. “Coming right up. Coffee?”   
  
“God yes,” Elisabet replied. She studiously avoided her mom's eyes as Celeste left to fetch the coffee pot and some mugs. She could practically _feel_ Miriam's barely repressed amusement from her own side of the booth.   
  
“I'm assuming full caff for you both?” Celeste returned.   
  
“Please,” Miriam replied.   
  
“Alright, here you go. Food's on the way.”   
  
Left in peace, Elisabet ventured a look at her mom. Miriam was sitting her chin resting on her hand, a wry grin on her face.   
  
“That's your 'I'm up to something' look.”   
  
“What? No.”   
  
Elisabet raised an eyebrow.   
  
“Can't believe you don't have a boyfriend yet,” Mim smiled.   
  
“I need some hot tips from Audra, clearly,” Lis mused as she put sweetener in her coffee.   
  
“Sorry about the work talk, I should have thought about that.”   
  
“It's okay, I get it. There's not a lot of good news around here. They want to celebrate a little. I just...I'm surprised FAS hasn't issued a press release yet.”   
  
“They're waiting until they announce the peacekeeper deal. They need to protect that share price. Or Ted's going to turn up on my doorstep to convince you to change your mind.”   
  
“Ugh, don't.”   
  
“I'll chase him off with a shotgun. Has he emailed you?”   
  
Lis shrugged. “Haven't checked my inbox.”   
  
Miriam looked genuinely surprised. “You've been here a week.”   
  
“I'm trying not to get sucked into the anxiety spiral. Thinking about the future, not get caught up in the past.”   
  
“Makes sense.”   
  
Celeste came back with plates of food. “Fiddlr,” she declared. “That was the app that Audra used. You might want to look into it.”   
  
Elisabet went bright red and squeaked, “yeah okay.”   
  
“Enjoy!”   
  
Miriam looked quizzically at her daughter.   
  
Lis looked around and spoke in a whisper, “Fiddlr is an anonymous hook up app.”   
  
“Oh.”   
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“Got an account?” Mim asked with a grin.   
  
“What would you do if I said yes?” Elisabet dug into her eggs.   
  
“I'd know you were full of it.”   
  
They ate in silence for a few minutes.   
  
“How's Samina?” Miram asked.   
  
Elisabet surveyed her mom for signs of teasing, but she seemed serious. Miriam had met Samina about four months ago, when they both attended a launch event for Elisabet's team's new CO2 clearing auto submarines. Her mom had clocked her crush on her friend  _immediately_ , and had been wanting updates ever since. Progress, however, had been slow.   
  
“She's fine. She's good. She, uh, she just got a job in New Tehran. Professorship, which is great. Really great.” Lis spread some grape jelly on her toast.   
  
“Is it?” Miriam asked, quietly.   
  
“Yeah, definitely. It's the Collective Memory Institute, it's the perfect place for her. She'll be amazing.”   
  
“Sweets.”   
  
Elisabet sighed. “I'm pleased for her. Genuinely. She leaves in time for the new academic year, so. Three months. It is what it is.”   
  
“The world is much smaller now.”   
  
“It's not gonna happen, mom.”   
  
Miriam ate her eggs thoughtfully. “Alright, hear me out. As a foremost expert on dating...”   
  
“Oh yeah?” Lis asked with a wry smile.   
  
“Absolutely. Getting knocked up by a random soldier 28 years ago and not going near a dong since then is all the worldly experience I need to dish out advice.”   
  
“Teach me, senpai.”   
  
“Tactic one: Go out dancing, bump into Samina in a bar, then lose your virginity, her phone number and get knocked up all in one fell swoop.”   
  
“Uh huh...I can see at least one biological flaw in that. What's the next step?”   
  
“That's it. Just have an amazing kid and generally live an awesome life.”   
  
“Flatterer.”   
  
“Tactic two: Just tell her. I saw you _light up_ when she arrived at that launch party. You look at her the same way you look at coding textbooks and robot schematics.”   
  
“Really?” Elisabet asked, doubtfully.   
  
“I am not at all exaggerating.”   
  
“Mm.”   
  
“Give it a chance.”   
  
“She's leaving the country in three months, what kind of chance will that be?”   
  
“Better than saying nothing and wondering what could have been.”   
  
“Maybe.” Lis tried to spread too-cold butter on her last piece of toast, and mainly ended up with bits of bread with large chunks of butter stuck to it. Her mom watched her the entire time. “If she liked me, she would have said something by now.”   
  
“Like you have?”   
  
Elisabet paused mid-chew. “Shuddup.”   
  
Miriam laughed.   
  
Lis continued. “I haven't spoken to her since the day before I quit, I can't just declare my love for her-”   
  
“-well yeah, start with 'how are you doing'-”   
  
“-you know what I mean, mom.”   
  
Miriam leaned over the table and gently caught her daughter's hand. “Sweets, why haven't you spoken to her?”   
  
Elisabet looked over at the condiments. “I just...haven't. Been busy.”   
  
“I love you, but you slept until 2pm on Saturday and spent the rest of the day shouting at an old Mythbusters marathon. In your pyjamas.”   
  
“There's fundamental flaws in their testing methods!” Elisabet said, a little louder than necessary. She lowered her voice. “I take your point, though.”   
  
“What's going on?”   
  
“She's amazing and talented and going places and I'm jobless and yelling at old TV shows and I have no clue what to do next. I can't even bring myself to check my emails.”   
  
Miriam squeezed Elisabet's hand. “Time to call your therapist?”   
  
“Definitely,” Lis replied, glumly.   
  
“Just...give Samina a chance to be a friend? She doesn't seem like the kind of person to ditch you because you made a stand and quit your job.”   
  
“She was one of the ones to put me up to it, she better not,” Elisabet said with a confidence she didn't feel.   
  
“Who else put you up to it?”   
  
“You did, you jackass,” Lis said with a small smile.   
  
“I did, didn't I?” Miriam chuckled.   
  
“I have to find myself some yes men, seriously. 'Why, yes Lis, you have the best ideas ever', 'yes Lis, you can actually cook', 'why yes Lis, you should put your mother in a home'.”   
  
Miriam feigned a faint. “Anything else! Leave me out to be eaten by coyotes than stuck complaining about Barbara's new blue rinse and perceived slights by nurses.”   
  
“Noted.” Elisabet took her hand back and restarted on her breakfast.   
  
“It's not for now, but think about telling Samina. I have a good feeling about her.”   
  
“Yeah?”   
  
“Better than Dr Well Actually,” Mim groused.   
  
“You hated her,” Lis smiled.   
  
“I swear to goodness that woman tried to explain how to run a business to me. She genuinely thought I just drove a tractor up and down a field all fucking day.”   
  
“She just got disciplined for stopping another professor's lecture and taking over with her own.”   
  
“I am not even remotely surprised. Actually, I'm surprised that's the first time.”   
  
“The first time she got caught by management,” Elisabet laughed.   
  
“Please don't get back together with her.”   
  
“No chance. She once told me that I was coding my AI incorrectly.”   
  
“Wasn't she a geography professor?”   
  
“Yes. Yes she was.”   
  
“ _Please_ don't get back together with her.”   
  
“Not a chance.”   
  
“Thank god.”   
  
Elisabet pushed her empty plate to one side, then pulled the home fries towards her. She slapped away her mom's attempt to steal some without comment. “So what's the plan for this afternoon?”   
  
“Vet's coming by. Got a limping cow, I can't figure it out and neither can Alex. You?”   
  
“Thought I'd make some calls,” Lis smiled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr Well Actually and her taking over of a lecture is based on a real life incident that happened during my undergraduate years. She was quite something.


End file.
